The present disclosure generally relates to an air-flow assembly for a vehicle engine compartment, and more particularly to an airflow directing member for a vehicle engine compartment that addresses inefficiencies and accommodates variations encountered during assembly of vehicles, as well as an associated method of forming an air separator assembly for an associated vehicle engine compartment. It is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable, however, to other like applications that encounter similar problems or require similar solutions.
To facilitate cooling of a vehicle engine components, ram airflow is advantageously used during vehicle motion. More specifically, vehicle ram airflow openings may be positioned on the vehicle to receive an airflow that is directed toward and impacting the vehicle while the vehicle is in motion (ram airflow), and may introduce the ram airflow into the vehicle engine compartment. The ram airflow may be directed at a relatively high rate of speed proportional to a speed of movement of the vehicle, and can facilitate cooling the vehicle engine components due to the cooling effect of the relatively high-speed airflow.
The vehicle engine compartment, however, may not be efficiently configured or arranged to fully take advantage of the ram airflow cooling effect, for example, due to a lack of an optimized aerodynamic and/or airflow directing design within the vehicle engine compartment. Particularly, the vehicle engine compartment may include areas or regions along one or more ram airflow paths which may be susceptible to becoming low pressure areas or regions. These low pressure areas or regions may allow or encourage ram airflow to leak from a desired ram airflow path or to recirculate within the vehicle engine compartment, thereby reducing the efficiency of cooling by the introduced ram airflow. Moreover, even if some manner of ram airflow direction is provided in the vehicle engine compartment, the mechanism for ram airflow direction may not be optimally positioned or configured to reduce or eliminate the problematic low pressure areas or regions. Commonly owned, published application US 2013/0244562A1 provides an airflow directing member for a vehicle engine compartment which is secured, for example, to a member between a vehicle bumper beam and a vehicle radiator. The disclosure of this commonly owned US published application is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
The air circulation prevention device, developed in an attempt to recover airflow necessary to cool critical engine components for heat resistance durability, re-directs airflow from the bumper lower opening, as well as preventing lower bumper airflow mixing with airflow from the front grill. This arrangement attempts to provide the most efficient, non-turbulent airflow through the condenser and radiator. Unfortunately due to the inherent construction and body attachment method of this air separator, there is the potential for variation in its final setting position relative to the vehicle body. Therefore, a sealing structure is necessary to provide good sealing to the bumper beam and to prevent inefficiencies in air flow direction.
This disclosure remedies these problems in a simple, reliable, effective, and inexpensive manner.